How to manage broken dental crown?

Well, it is very unusual for your crown to get broken; however, nothing is certain and this situation do occur sometimes. It is sometimes annoying if your crown breaks immediately or a few months after placement. When you spend so much on the crowns (as it don’t include in insurance in most of the cases), it is pretty disappointing to see it broken in a short span of time. Nevertheless, it is not to be forgettable that wear and tear do occur in ages.

What are all the possible reasons for the crown to break ?

First and foremost reason to consider is the age factor. If you have crown for more than a decade, then congratulations, you have maintained it really well, and yes, its high time to change it to the new one. Otherwise, it is not surprising for it to break at anytime.

Secondly, when you have the habit of night grinding called ‘bruxism’ during sleep, or in severe cases it happens even at the day time, there are more possibilities for your crown to disintegrate within a few weeks to months. To know more about bruxism, click the link Bruxism or teeth grinding

Accidental hit by any means could be an another reason and it is important for you to avoid such injuries for your own goodness.

There is something called ‘ Trauma from occlusion’ , is an abnormal condition of your dentition where your biting force is not evenly distributed and it focus on to a particular point or tooth. In such cases, there are more chances for your crown to break within short span of time when it is not considered well enough during fabrication time.

Most often, presence of ‘highpoints’ in the fabricated crown is the frequent reason for immediate breakage or at least within a few weeks span. In this condition, it is important to notify your dentist if you have felt any premature hit while biting or you feel only a particular portion of your crown is coming into contact while closing your mouth. This is however, well identifiable during the crown – trial session if you pay some extra attention.

How to manage if your crown gets broken all of a sudden?

Firstly, do not panic and you are not the only person to face it. On top of that, it does has solution, so relax.

Carefully retrieve the broken parts and make sure you had removed all the broken pieces. It is ok to rinse your mouth vigorously to discard those pieces rather than swallowing them.

However, Do not try to remove the intact portions by yourself. It may end up in further injuries to your mucosa and other supporting structures in the oral cavity.

Inform your dentist immediately and book an appointment as early as possible.

Until your scheduled appointment time, do not try to keep or rub your tongue at the broken crown portion. Although this might happen due to reflex action, take extra care not to do so, as it may wound your tongue badly. Unfortunately, you may not be aware initially that your tongue is getting hurt; however, it will end up in ulcerations on the tongue.

Do not attempt eat or chew on that side until you visit your dentist. But it is not necessary to restrict on eating. You shall use the other side happily.

At the time of appointment, no need to become agitated. Your dentist will first remove the intact portions with a specialized instrument without injuring the other parts and will recontour the prepared tooth. This is the part of the treatment, and nothing to panic about. However, certainly you cannot reuse the older crown and it has to be replaced.

Give proper history about how your crown got broken. This is crucial to analyse the problem and avoid repetition.

It is possible to manage the broken crown without any hinderance if you could follow the above steps properly. Eventhough it would be an unpleasant experience for anyone, I hope you shall handle it better if at all it occurs. To know more about how to take care of your dental crowns or bridges for long term effectively kindly click the link Tips and tricks to follow after placing dental crown or bridge